scribner



, (No Model.) 2 Sheefs-Sheet 1.

0. B. SORIBNBR, I AMERICAN DISTRICT ELECTRIC SIGNAL'APPARATUS.

No. 512,400. Patented Jan. 9, 1894.

2Sheets-Sheet 2.

(N0 Model.)

0. E. SGRIBNER. AMERIGAN DISTRICT ELEGTEIO SIGNAL APPARATUS.

Patented Jan. 9, 1 894.

villllll hlllllll NITED. STATES PATENT FFICE.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WESTERNELECTRIC COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

' AMERICAN DISTRICT ELECTRIC SIGNAL APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 512,400, dated January9, 1894.

Application filed December 27, 1886. Renewed May 9, 1893. Serial No.473,601. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES E. SORIBNER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lilinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in American DistrictElectric Signal Apparatus, (Case No. 122,) of which the following is afull, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to theaccom- IO panying drawings, forminga part of this specification.

My invention relates to the apparatus used in connection with districtmessenger service systems in which call boxes distributed I5 throughouta certain district are electrically connected with the central station.These boxes are so connected and constructed that several specificsignals may be sent in to the central station from any one of thedistrict boxes and there received upon a suitable register, and afterthe signal is sent, the circuits of the box are automatically brought inposition so that a signal sent from the central office may be receivedat the box to indicate 2 5 that the central station has received thecall.

A Morse register may be used at the central station for receiving thecalls from the boxes. Quite a large number of boxes may be placed upon asingle circuit. 0 The box which I have invented consists of a clocktrain, a lever for winding up the spring before each call is sent in, abreak wheel provided with notches to indicate the number of the box andthe different services 3 5 required, a shunting device for varying theservice signal, tripping and stop mechanism and an electro-magneticsignal receiving device, whereby any one of the several signals may besent to the central station and an an- 0 swer back signal received atthe box, as will be hereinafter described.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure l is a front view of the American 5 district signal box which Ihave invented,

with the dial removed so as to show the interior mechanism and circuits.Fig. 2 is a view of the train upon section line a:-0c of Fig. 4.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the carrier shaft, carrier and pointermechanism. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the mechanism of the box. Fig.5 is a detailed front elevation of the break wheel, the carrier wheeland stop mechanism in the position which they assume after the breakWheel has gone a little more than half a revolution. Fig. 6 is a frontview of the dial with the pointer set at 1. Fig. 7 is a detailed view ofthe carrier disk and the engagement wheel which carries the pointermechanism. Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view upon a line zz of Fig. 1.Fig. 9 is a diagram of an American district circuit extending from thecentral station through several difierent stations.

Like parts are'indicated by similar letters 6 of reference throughoutthe different figures.

Referring now to Fig. 9, A is a register at the central station. B, C,D, E, F, and Gare different stations upon the same circuit, at each ofwhich is provided one of my signal boxes. H is a key for breaking thecircuit at the central station, and I is the battery included in thecircuit. K is the electro-magnetic device which is normally shunted outof the circuit, but which is automatically brought into circuit after acall has been sent, so that on opening key H the bell will be rung.

Upon the dial, shown in Fig. 6, are indicated eleven different numbers,and the mech- 8o anism of the box is so arranged that on setting thepointer to any one of said numbers and pulling down the lever, and thenreleasing the lever, the train of Wheels will be set in motion and thebreak Wheel will interrupt the circuit at intervals, so as to indicateand register at the central station, not only the particular call, butalso the specific number of the box. The call of the box is thus sent inand received upon the register at the 0 central station.

The box is shown in its normal position in Fig. 1. The circuit throughthe box may be traced from binding post a to contact 1; and thence tospring 0, which is connected with 5 the plate at, and thence" byconnection e to armature lever f and thence to contact point g, andthence to spring h, and thence to binding post 2', as shown.

The break wheel is provided with teeth, and when the wheel is set inmotion these teeth come successively in contact with the spring fingerc, and thus the spring finger is lifted successively from contact I),thus breaking the circuit each time the spring finger is lifted. Dashesand spaces are thus indicated upon the register at the central stationcorresponding to the number and position of the teeth upon the wheel.The break wheel shown in the drawings is provided with ten notches, eachserving to send in the specific service required accordingly as one ormore may be included in the circuit. On the opposite side of the samewheel are provided notches which indicate the specific number of thebox. In this case the number of the box would be twenty-nine. Theconnection between spring 0 and point bis never shunted, while thenumber of the box is being sent in, but, as before stated, the pointermay be set so that a shunt will be closed between spring 0 and point I)while one or more, or all, of the service notches are passing the saidspring. Thus during the revolution of the break wheel we may have noservice dash at all indicated before the number of the box, or we mayhave from one to ten service dashes indicated, according to the positionin which the pointer is set before the box is turned in. Break wheelsand pointer mechanism for setting break wheels have been heretofore usedfor accomplishing this result. Also apparatus has been employed by whichan answer back signal could be received from the central station afterthe box had been turned in. I accomplish the desired results, however,by mechanism more simple than any heretofore in use, and in a mannernever before employed in this class of electric signaling apparatus.

I will now describe the mechanism by means ofwhich I am enabled to shuntthe circuit breaker so as to send in the desired service.

Upon the periphery of the wheel I provide ten notches to indicate theservice, and other notches to indicate the particular number of the box.Every time the box is turned the break wheel makes a completerevolution, and the contact depending upon vthe break wheel is openedand closed successively by the notches. Hereinbefore I have traced thecircuits from binding post a to contact point I) and thence to post 0which is in contact with the metallic plate d. If, now, a shunt beclosed around the spring 0 and point b during any portion of therevolution of wheel 70, it is evident that there will be no break in thecircuit of the line caused by the teeth of the wheel lifting spring 0from said point I). In order that this may be done, I provide thecontact spring m permanently in contact with contact point I) and thedisk at, which is pering the greater radius, but will not make anycontact with the similar segment which has been cut away. The carrierdisk 0 is pinned to the carrier shaft so as to move with it, and isprovided with the spring 2 which is secured rigidly at one end of thecarrier disk 0, and at the other end provided with a roller 19, and isso adjusted that the roller presses against the engagement wheel, asshown in Fig. 7. As long as the roller is in engagement with any one ofthe notches of said wheel, the said wheel will be carried with thecarrier disk 0, and with it the shunting disk at and the pointer. Bymeans of the pointer the engagement wheel may be set so that the rollerwill engage with any one of the notches and will be thus held in saidnotch, so as to carry the shunting disk until the stop q of the shuntingdisk comes against the trigger 1'. As soon as stop q is carried againsttrigger 0*, the shunting disk at will be held so as not to revolve withthe carrier shaft until the break Wheel 70 has about completed itsrevolution, whereupon the said triggerris lifted by cam s provided uponthe carrier wheel, and thereupon the stop q passes by the trigger r andrests upon the other side thereof, as shown in Fig. 1. This samecam s,ora similar cam, serves, at the same time that the trigger is lifted, toseparate spring 72 from its opposing contact point and bring theelectro-magnet 25 into the circuit. As soon as the electro-magnet 25 isbrought into the circuit, the armature f of said electro-magnet will bedrawn to its poles, thus separating armatureffrom contact point gandholdingitin this position. Thus when cam 8 passes on-so as to permitspring h to close again, the shunt around the electro-magnet 2% will beheld open at g. The current from the battery I at the central stationpasses through the electromagnet, and as soon as the key H is opened tobreak the circuit of said battery, the electro-magnet t is demagnetizedand armature f falls away, and the hammer carried by said armature willstrike a blow against the bell. At the same time the armature closesagainst point g. Electro-magnet t is thus immediately shunted and nomore signals can be received thereby from the central station until thearmature is drawn again to its poles.

It is evident that the shunting mechanism and answer back mechanism maybe used independently.

The operation of the break wheel. and shunt- ICC ing device is asfollows: The wheel and disk revolve in the direction indicated by thearrows in Fig. 1, and when in motion the ten breaks are made first bythe ten teeth upon the periphery of the break wheel. Then follows aspace, as indicated, after which the number-in this case twenty-nine-istrans mitted. When the pointer is set in the position shown in Figs. 1and 6, the shunting disk at and the spring m remain in contact duringthat portion of the revolution of the break wheel when the ten dashteeth are breaking the circuit through spring '0 and contact point b.Therefore, those breaks will not be transmitted to the line for thereason that the contact points 0 b are shunted out by the spring 4%resting on disk n, as disk 11 revolves with break wheel is at the samerate of speed. When break wheel is has revolved to a position to begintransmitting the number, disk n will have revolved out of contact withspring m, thus breaking the shunt around the contact points 0 b.Therefore, the breaks indicating the number will be transmitted to lineand will be received upon the register at the central station. If, now,the pointer be set to any of the numbers upon the dial, say,

' for example, number 4, and the box then transmitted.

started, disk at will, in its motion, be four teeth in advance of breakwheel is, and its periphery will pass out of contact with spring m assoon as six of the dash teeth havepassed underthespringfingerc.Therefore,tl'1esliunt around the contact points 0 b will be removed intimeto admit of four dashes being transmitted by the break wheel, afterwhich the number willbetransmitted as before. Thusif the needle be setat the service 11, the disk n will pass as the disk 72. travels withbreak wheel is, it is evident that during the revolution the disk orwould come again into contact with spring on before the completion ofthe revolution. is to prevent this contact that the stop pin q and thetrigger r are provided. The disk being stopped by this stop mechanism ata point when spring m and disk 71. are still out of contact, the disk isheld by the stop until after the break wheel has revolved to a pointwhere the number has been completely transmitted, after which, andduring the final movement of the train, the stop is thrown out of theway and the disk resumes its motion to the starting point; that is, whenthe pointer is on the figure 1. It will be seen that the arm a ismounted upon the same shaft with the lever. This arm it, therefore, isturned with the main shaft through an are equal to the are described bythe lever when the signal is being turned in. When the lever is turnedto wind up the clock spring, this arm or lug u is moved away from thepin 2; carried by the break wheel. This arm gradually returns while thesignal If the pointer be set at 11, and

less number of the service signals, and mechanism for setting the samein different positions, and circuit breaking and closing devices;whereby any one of several designated service signals may be sent to thecentral station, substantially as described.

- 2. In a district signal box, the combination with a clock train, of acircuit breaking wheel and a shunting device, said shunting device andbreak wheel being on difierent shafts which are carried at the same rateof speed, the shunting disk being mounted loosely on its carrying shaft,and mechanism for setting said shunting device in diiferent positionswith respect to the break wheel and circuits; whereby any of severaldesignated signals may be sent, substantially as described.

3. In a district signal box, the combination with a circuit breakingwheel, of an adj ustable shunting mechanisn, said circuit breaking wheeland said shunting mechanism being both moved by the same clock train atthe same rate of speed, and two circuits, one

including the circuit breaking wheel and the other circuit shunting thesaid circuit breaking wheel and including the said adjustable shuntingmechanism; whereby any particular service signal may be sent over theline, substantially as described.

4. The combination with the carrying shaft of the spring rigidlyconnected therewith and provided with a roller at its free end, and anengagement wheel mounted loosely upon said shaft; whereby while theshaft is turning the engagement wheel is carried by said roller,substantially as described.

5. The combination with the driving shaft, of an adjustable disk mountedloosely thereon, the carrier disk rigidly connected with the carriershaft so as to move therewith, and the spring 12 which is securedrigidly at one end to the carrier disk and at the other end providedwith a roller adjusted to press against an engagement wheel,substantially as described.

6. The combination with the circuit of a signal box, of the springfinger c permanently connected with the plate (1, and a connection fromsaid plate (1 out to the line, a break wheel for operating said springfinger so as to separate said finger at intervals from its normalcontact point to break the circuit, and an adjustable shunting mechanismconsisting of a disk, a pointer adapted to turn said disk, and a contactspring adapted to make con- 10 said shunt circuit, and means foradjusting the position of said circuit closing wheel to vary the lengthof time said shunt circuit is closed, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES E. SCRIBNER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE P. BARTON, WM. M. GILLER.

